The Stone of Blood (7 page)

Louis Philippe d'Orléans
knelt down then at the chair before the priest. Father Joseph listened in tentatively as
Louis Philippe placed the g
olden vessel of the ‘Sang
Pierre
’ into his hands and continued to speak.

“As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, I am the ‘Prince du Sang’ Prince of Blood,
soon to return to my homeland, where I will be King. There is Revolution as you know well, where they desecrate the house of God and our country. But I will reclaim what is rightfully mine! But for this, this that has been handed down through my family’s line can no longer be a mark upon our house
Père
.”

He bowed his head then as he kissed the hand of the priest.

“Forgive me Père, but understand that once you accept possession of this, once this passes from the House of Bourbon to the Papacy I will forevermore deny its role in my family’s history. We shall have an unspoken bond between us, yes?”

“Rex Quondam vos nominatur, PRAEPOSITUS nobis fiet?” Respondit pater in Latin. “Suscipiam et traderent in manus ipse Summus Pontifex, sed et mittam ei gratiam et pictura nobis erit disserendum artificiata?”

“Once you are named King, we will be made preferential?” The father replied in Latin. “I will accept this and deliver it personally into the hands of His Holiness the Pope, but you will send favor to him and we will have the artifacts and paintings we had discussed?”

“
C'est fait.”

“It is done.”

Meanwhile, on the European continent across the Atlantic Ocean, through the
Mediterranean Sea
,
Napoléon landed his armies in Fréjus
. Within a month the French Revolution would come to an end with the
coup d'état
of
18 Brumaire
(9 November 1799) in which General
Napoléon Bonaparte
would overthrow the Directoire and replace it with the Consulate.

Four

Words of Silence

Invisible words hold power. When used correctly they could wield energy so devastating that it could take a kid a lifetime to overcome! For example, my mama told me when I was little that there was an
invisible fence
out there in our front yard. And that I couldn’t go past it!

Now I was smart enough to know that there wasn’t a
real
fence in our front yard.
But if I ever crossed over that invisible fence line, my Mama would’ve come down on me like a month of Sundays!

It was proof enough to me that whether or not the words held a
literal meanin’
…my mama’s hand to my back side made it real!

Behave
was also an invisible word. The word in itself held a plethora of meanings. A two syllable word that could hold you in your tracks; and make you back up and take another look at it! It was an invisible stop sign kind of word. A word you most often didn’t hear until after you’d already passed it. To tell you the truth, even to this day I don’t know as I have ever quite figured out how to
do
that word before passin’ it!

I lived in a world filled with invisible words such as these; invisible words and un-discernin’ facial expressions. If a
word
could stop you in your tracks, then a
look
could grab you and penetrate your very soul.

I thought about things like this often, even at a young age. I don’t know why, it was just the way I thought …but I would soon lose myself again and return to my imaginations:

…
I wiped my sword clean of the blood of the Dragon and returned it to its sheath. The journey home to my father’s castle, though made in haste had been a necessary recourse
.

The maidens had been rescued and the valleys had been saved from their impending devastation. Although there were no ticker tape parades or festivals thrown in my honor, peace had been restored once again to the land.

A soft bed had now been laid before this valiant knight; with curtains drawn and beseeched to take leave
…

“But Mama, I don’t wanna take a nap!” I said with tears swellin’ up in my eyes and usin’ my puppy dog face.

“It is time for you to get some sleep Toby. Now climb into bed, close your eyes and rest for a little while.” Mama said.

…I would not bring fight against the Queen this day; my energy havin’ already been spent. A knight must regain his strength after all if he is to continue to protect the realm.

The Queen kissed my forehead, and tucked me in solidly beneath the satin garb.

Cause of her great tenderness, I harnessed my angst and lay there upon the bed that had been prepared for me, and rested my eyes...

And so the dreams took me ...dreams of runnin’ horses and fire dragons; dreams of magic castles and valiant knights, and dreams of the night my sister was born
…

‘I had wanted a sister so bad that I couldn’t stand it! I can’t tell you that I even knew what a sister was! But I knew that I wanted one. I had gone so far as to offer all of the pennies in my piggy bank to the doctor, if he would help me get one!

The night she was born, my dad was so nervous. He paced the floor so much that I thought he might wear out a trail, right there in the livin’ room floor!

“You can sit down and rest for a while.” I said to my dad. “I’ll pace the floor for you.”

So he sat down on the couch and rested, while I got up and paced the floor for him!

Mom and Dad named my sister, Anna. And she was a very tiny baby. Mama said that I could hold her on my lap, but that I needed to be real careful not to drop her! I was always careful about that.

I never dropped her, not even one time!’

I awakened slowly from my dreams within the hour: yawnin’ stretchin’ and wallerin’ beneath the covers of my bed. The house was alive with music, while sunlight from outside fell upon the widows of my room and reflected multicolored lights upon my walls!

Mama danced through the kitchen and hallway to music from her stereo while my sister played in the toy room and hollered for me to wake up!

“Get up! Get up! Get up!” Anna said. She didn’t know how to say too many words yet. So she’d get overly excited whenever she said some that we could understand! “Get up brother! Get up!”

“Yay!” she exclaimed as I got up out of bed. And then she squealed and clapped her hands!

“Mama, can me and Anna go outside and play?” I said in a yawnin’ voice, stretchin’ my arms over my head while walkin’ thru my room to the kitchen to stand in the doorway.

My mama smiled.

Anna couldn’t go outside by herself, but I knew that if I asked if she could go outside with me then there was a better chance of Mama sayin’ I could!

We did get to go outside again. Mama came with us. She came outside, laid a blanket down on the grass and we had a picnic lunch right out there in the sun!

We played the rest of that afternoon. I played at bein’ the fastest gun in the west, while my sister pushed her baby doll around in her stroller. Anna didn’t understand the whole cowboy and Indian game, but if she wanted to play with me I would let her.

Anna laughed at me as I ran around in the grass pretendin’ to shoot the sky.

And she laughed again as the dandelions puffed up into the air and tickled her nose!

***

July 1833

A rogue band of
U.S.
Calvary seized control of the Federal Hill
Plantation
. It had been torn asunder; thoroughly searched and turned upside down! Its contents lay in shambles: rubbish strewn across its floors, its curtains ripped down from their high places! Its people were horded into its main room where they sat together upon the hardwood floors, children sitting in grownups laps, coloreds and white people alike.

Nathanael’s soldiers held back the fires by his command though torches were prepared and his men stood at the ready.

The General positioned himself in the parlor now, shouting at his prisoners; and interrogating them for information!

“Where is the ‘
Sang
Pierre
’
? Where is the Blood Stone!” he demanded as he reached down and grabbed a small child by the hair of her head, and held her up in the air as she squealed and kicked!

“Someone, tell me where it is!” He exclaimed and then threw the girl against the wall and watched her as she collapsed to the floor.

Nathanael’s rage consumed him as his mind slipped willingly into madness; his insanity changed him as his anger and resentment surged!

“I will have that stone!” He screamed as he toppled over tables, bookshelves and vanity’s filled with bourbon, shattering glass upon the parlor’s floor at his captive’s feet!

“It’s not here sir!” One of his officers interrupted “We’ve searched the entire place sir, men women and children. It’s not here sir! It’s been moved.”

Nathanael dropped his head. For so long he had searched for it; for so long it had eluded him.

He looked down upon the faces of the women, children and slaves that sat before him. He looked into their faces as they huddled together for comfort, cowering and crying in fear.